Business Publication Of The Year

THE fortunes of luxury brand Mercedes-Benz continue to grow, with the manufacturer posting its 63rd consecutive month of sales increases.

Worldwide, it sold a total of 198,187 cars in May – a figure that’s up by 2.3 per cent over the same month in 2017. Year-to-date, the brand’s sales are up by 5.4 per cent on the previous year, with a total of 985,063 cars sold from January to May.

May sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose by 10.2 per cent, with those in China even greater with an impressive 12.2 per cent increase. Mercedes-Benz now tops the charts as the most popular premium manufacturer in many key markets, including Germany, Japan and the USA.

It’s also number one for the sector in the UK, with its total 76,414 sales so far in 2018 beating the likes of fellow German brands Audi (74,737) and BMW (69,411).

In 2017, Mercedes-Benz sold approximately 2.3 million cars worldwide – compared with just 1.4m in 2012, after which sales began to ramp up.

Global marketing and sales manager Britta Seeger said: ‘The 63rd record month in succession demonstrates our customers’ trust in first-class products from Mercedes-Benz. This enables us to further expand our strong position in the premium segment. This May, we delivered more than 198,000 vehicles, which is more than in any May before.’

The brand said it was pleased to note the popularity of its SUV range, too, with the GLA, GLC, GLE and GLS ranges soon to be joined by an all-new G-Class. ‘Our SUVs are particularly popular with customers,’ continued Seeger. ‘Worldwide, nearly 350,000 units sold since the beginning of the year is an incredible result. Never before have we delivered so many SUVs to our customers in the first five months of a year.

‘We are especially looking forward to the launch of the new G-Class. With our off-road icon, we will continue the success story of the SUVs in June.’